Know More About Dewi Sartika

Dewi Sartika was born in Cicalengka, Bandung,  Desember 4^th, 1884 and died In September 11^th of 1947, Tasikmalaya. She is one of the national hero who pioneering education for womankind in Indonesia. Her parents worked hard and insisted Dewi Sartika to get to the School of the Netherlands even if it violate the rules at that time. As the result of opposing the Netherlands East Indies, her mother was exiled to Ternate, while her father died. Because of that Dewi Sartika was raised by her uncle who is a governor in Cicalengka.

Since childhood she had shown her talent in teaching, in fact she helped children of Kepatihan Maid by giving some of her knowledge of Western culture that she gained from a lady of Dutch Resident Assistant and the Sundanese culture from her uncle, so they can also read and write words. Once women didn’t have rights to go to school, they can only do house works, only some of the lucky one from noble family that can have education at that time. Seeing an opportunity for girls around her to get education, encouraged her to established a school devoted for women. She worked struggled for a long time and finally in January 16^th, 1904 she managed to open a school for the first time in the Dutch East Indies and named that school Sekolah Isteri. In the beginning there are only 20 students but as the time flows Sekolah Isteri gained more attention from the community and more students. Due to limited space in that building they moved the school to a bigger place. After 6 years establishment, in 1910 the school name was change into Sekolah Keutamaan Isteri and they also added more subjects.

In the next few years more Sekolah Isteri were build by every women who got the same dream as Dewi Sartika in some territory of Pasundan and in the 10^th year , in 1914 the school name become Sakola Kautamaan Isteri. When Sekolah Kautaman Isteri reached 25 years in September 1929, Dewi Sartika renamed it again, changed it into Sakola Raden Dewi. She was rewarded by the Indian- Dutch Government for her distinction. To respect her dedication for the nation of Indonesia made her become one of the National Independence Hero on December 1^th , 1966.

In the end we can learn and get many things from Dewi Sartika, from her hard work, her ambition to make a better future for women, her unyielding attitude, and many more that we can take and use in our live.